Catalyst
by Catlover friendly-but-xplosive
Summary: "It was a lost cause. Anyone with half a brain could see that. Many things can be said of Mereline Hawke. But having a brain at all, yet alone half of one, is not one of them." Mage freedom is everything to Mereline Hawke. F!Hawke x Anders.


A/N: I was listening to Linkin Park when 'The Catalyst' came on. It fired my imagination and I kept listening to it all afternoon while this story brewed. I meant to make it follow the story but that kinda changed as it grew. LOL. I _WANTED_ to make it a music video, I even have all the clips I want to use in my head- but I don't know how to capture video on the Xbox so I can't.

Disclaimer: I don't own either Dragon Age or Linkin Park.

**Catalyst**

_God bless us everyone  
>We're a broken people living under loaded gun<br>And it can't be outfought  
>It can't be outdone<br>It can't be out matched  
>It can't be outrun<em>

It was a lost cause. Anyone with half a brain could see that. Many things can be said of Mereline Hawke. But having a brain at all, yet alone half of one, is not one of them. She fears the Templars more than she fears the consequences of defying them, and if they make her Tranquil, then at least she went out fighting.

She tried, for so long, to keep a low profile. All her life she was told that to show her powers was to be taken from her family. She was trained to hide them. But when she reaches Kirkwall she cannot pretend that it does not bother her anymore.

She asked Fenris when she met him why he did not just run, and he told her there comes a time to stop running and fight back. She did not understand at the time, but she does now.

_And when I close my eyes tonight  
>To symphonies of blinding light<br>God bless us everyone  
>We're a broken people living under loaded gun<br>Like_ _memories in cold decay  
>Transmissions echoing away<br>Far from the world of you and I  
>Where oceans bleed into the sky<em>

She finds in Anders a kindred spirit, someone who is willing to fight for what he believes. He lights the fire of rebellion in her, a fire fear has doused until now. It draws them together. He shows her his manifestos, and she is inspired by his example to write her own. She plasters them all over the city, willing everyone to read it and be persuaded. This way, if she is taken, her words will live on, and her beliefs can continue to influence people, and the Circle can be destroyed.

She is willing to sacrifice everything for this- in fact, she is sure that if she dies for this cause it will be better for it than if she lived. A martyr is always better than a living symbol. Just look at what Andraste's death accomplished. She is by no means saying she is worth the comparison- she is far from Andraste- but she is certain that she will not be throwing her life away if she dies for this.

_God save us everyone  
>Will we burn inside the fires of a thousand suns?<br>For the sins of our hand  
>The sins of our tongue<br>The sins of our father  
>The sins of our young<em>

She welcomes the appointment of Champion, though it was not her intention when she fought the Arishok. She sees it for what it is- an opportunity to spread her beliefs further. As Champion, people will listen to her. She will be respected. She will be heard, and believed.

She doesn't end up spending much time at her home in Hightown. She becomes much too dangerous to Meredith to be allowed to live free, especially with her influence. People are listening to her. She returns occasionally to check for mail at first, but soon vanishes into the depths of Darktown along with Anders, by now her lover.

Their manifestoes keep appearing, and the Templars keep tearing them down. They mount a fruitless extensive search of Darktown, and even go so far as to try to capture their companions in an attempt to weed them out.

Fenris they stand no chance against. He may hate the cause Hawke stands for, but he will not be the one they use to drag her into the Gallows for hanging. Merrill proves more of a challenge than the hunters expect from the slip of an elf, and easily evades them. Varric, with his ear constantly to the ground, is never to be found. They dare not arrest Aveline, she is too popular with the Guard and they need the Guards to maintain order. Isabela constantly slips from their grasp at the last minute, teasing and taunting them.

Devoid of other options, they resort to putting bounties on their heads. The desperate try, but inevitably fail. Most admire her too much to try.

_Lift me up  
>Let me go<em>

The more mages the Templars turn Tranquil in an attempt to punish the pair into silence, the further they infuriate the apostates, and the more active they become. They are the centre of a hurricane, the rallying cry of mages and sympathisers everywhere.

_Lift me up  
>Let me go<em>

Freedom is all they want. The freedom to live in peace, to not be harassed, not to be suspected at every turn and stolen from their families for a gift they cannot help. They don't want to be told that they are hated by the Maker simply for being what they are.

_Lift me up  
>Let me go<em>

She always respected the Qunari. She understood their plight. She, too, is hated and feared because of what she is. She, too, is a suspect in everything simply for being. She didn't want to convert to the Qun personally, but had nothing against those who did. She could see the attraction of it, of being sure of everything.

_Lift me up  
>Let me go<em>

But she is sure. She has a cause. A sure path. The Arishok recognises this, and respects her for it, just as she respects him for his surety. When she duels him it is a personal matter. She does it to save Isabela. That she saves Kirkwall is merely incidental.

_Lift me up  
>Let me go<em>

She'd do it a hundred times over just to see the look on Meredith's face again when she had to proclaim her Champion, because the cheering nobles would accept no other reward for her actions.

_Lift me up  
>Let me go<em>

"Whatever happens," she tells Anders, "Whatever is done to us, we will not give up. The mages _will_ be free. Even if it takes our deaths to do it."

He kisses her.

"I've searched far and wide for someone like you, love. I am proud to fight at your side."

"And I am proud to fight at yours."

_God bless us everyone  
>We're a broken people living under loaded gun<br>And it can't be outfought  
>Can't be outdone<br>It can't be out matched  
>It can't be outrun<em>

On their own, they can do little against the Circle of Magi, but together they are unstoppable. They have supporters, and more join their cause every day, until they are ready to face Meredith. Anders and Mereline do not give up, do not surrender. They fight to the bitter end. Anders is killed in the fight. Mereline is captured after the death of Knight-Commander Meredith and publically executed.

Her last words are "Our deaths will not be in vain! You cannot stop us! We will prevail!" and she is laughing hysterically as she is led to the gallows to be hung.

Their names are taken up as a rallying cry throughout all of Thedas now. Their defeat of Meredith proves that the Templars are not all powerful.

"We will prevail!" becomes the cry of all mages and sympathisers. Their symbol becomes a laughing mask, to immortalise the last utterances of their champion.

Other Circles rise up, and it isn't long before the Templars too defect from the Chantry in an attempt to control the threat the mages pose. Few remain loyal. Those who do are far too ineffectual to actually do anything.

It is chaos, and it is beautiful.

It is exactly what Anders and Mereline hoped to achieve, and were she alive, Mereline would thank the Templars for making it happen. As it happens, she is content in her last moments that the searing grief of losing Anders that she is covering with laughter, the same hysterical laughter she greeted her father's death with, her sister's death with, her brother's death with, her mother's death with, else she cries, will soon be over, that she will soon be with him, with them, and that, against all odds, they have accomplished what they set out to achieve.

The mages will be free.


End file.
